David Price has teamed up with former undisputed world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis as he bids to get his career back on track following defeat to Tony Thompson.

Price, 29, was stunned by the veteran American in Liverpool in February, suffering his first professional defeat by way of a second-round knockout.

And he has sought the advice of Lewis who rebuilt his own career following defeats to first Oliver McCall and then Hasim Rahman.

Blow: David Price lost to Tony Thompson in February but has the chance for revenge in July

Price starts out on the road to redemption in Canada next week when he will train under the watchful eye of Lewis ahead of his rematch with Thompson at the Liverpool Echo Arena on July 6.

'This is a fantastic opportunity to be able to work with one of the
greatest heavyweights of all time and I'm sure his knowledge will prove
to be invaluable,' Price said.

Comeback: Lennox Lewis was knocked out by Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman but avenged both losses

Lewis has been retired for almost 10 years, bowing out on a high with victory over Vitali Klitschko.

He avenged both defeats on his record and was also successful against the likes of Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield.

'David is a dedicated fighter,; he said. 'He takes his training seriously and is single minded in wanting to avenge that defeat and as a fighter I understand that and want to help him towards his goal.'

Main man: Lewis was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, winning 41 of his 44 contests

Fury on the campaign trail for a world title if Klitschko's political move disappoints Haye

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UPDATED:

00:10 GMT, 6 November 2012

While one British heavyweight is begging Vitali Klitshcko not to retire, another could find himself fighting for a world heavyweight title if the elder of the giant Ukrainian brothers goes into politics full-time.

It will be famine for David Haye but most probably feast for Tyson Fury should Vitali hang up the gloves so as to put his hat into the ring of government.

Former world champion Haye, who is set to star in the new series of I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, keeps repeating that he will only box again if it is against a Klitschko……which in effect means Vitali since Wladimir thrashed him last year and sees no point in going through the same process once more.

Opportunity knocks: Fury (left)

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Fury, the young traveller journeying towards his title shot, will find the path less steep if Vitali abdicates the WBC crown.

Fury has been focused on fighting himself into position to challenge either of the Klitschkos, who hold all the heavyweight alpha-belts between them.

The next stage in that campaign comes on December 8 in Belfast when he takes on Russia's unbeaten contender Denis Boytson.

That event, to be televised live on Channel 5, is being billed as a final eliminator. But at the moment WBC president Jose Sulaiman is saying: 'It is a semi-final.'

That organisation has declared that the winner of a December 15 fight in Venezuela between Chris Arreola and Bermaine Stiverne will become Vitali's mandatory challenger, with the victor of that bout ordered to meet Fury or Stiverne next.

However, if Klitschko calls it a day then Arreola or Stiverne will be instructed to meet the winner of Fury and Boytsov for the vacant title.

On that basis, Fury could find himself a world champion as early as next spring.

Boytsov will come to Northern Ireland boasting an unbeaten record of 31 wins, 25 by knockout. But Fury is also undefeated and he, too, has a high KO percentage.

Most significantly Fury is significantly the taller man, as he is in the majority of his fights. While that would not be the case against either of the Klitschkos, both Arreola, the favourite, and Stiverne are also smaller.

Boytsov, with his pale imitation of Mike Tyson, is a crowd-pleasing slugger with the power to test Fury's questionable chin…..if he can connect cleanly.

The greater probability is that Fury will land first on the Russian. The incentive for him to do so could not be greater.

A week later his promoter Mick Hennessy will be hoping that Arreola prevails, even though the American is the more highly-rated protagonist in his eliminator.

If not, he could find himself plunged into negotiations with the most Machiavellian of all boxing promoters.

Political move: Vitali Klitschko is the leader of the Ukrainian opposition party UDAR

Reports of Don Knig's demise as a figure in boxing have been, as Mark Twain would say, exaggerated.

As Stiverne's promoter he won the rights to stage the Arreola fight with a massive $1.1million purse bid.

It is not only Fury who is one step away from a world title. Just as Haye is not alone in hanging on Vitali Klitschko's decision, which is vaguely expected next month but may not come until next year.

King, the extravagant showman who brought us the Rumble in the Jungle and the Thrilla' in Manila among many of the ring's most famous fights, is on the brink of a sensational come-back of his own.

Froch will know to go for KO

Carl Froch was almost spared the obligation of an away re-match with Lucian Bute as the Canada-based Romanian flirted with defeat in Montreal on Saturday night.

Bute, from whom the Nottingham Cobra took the IBF world super-middleweight title in thunderous style earlier this year, needed a huge final round to be sure of a points victory over Russia's unheralded Denis Gratchev.

Two of the judges – and most observers – had it very close going into the 12th at the Bell Arena, where Froch will honour his promise of a return bout with Bute on March 30.

Bute, who had been rocked two or
three times in the earlier exchanges, dug deep for a blazing finish
which carried him to a unanimous decision.

However
the risible 118-110 margin logged by the third hometown judge in front
of a partisan crowd suggests it would be safer for Froch to repeat his
stunning KO victory over Bute rather than rely on the scoring.

The Cobra: Carl Froch will face Lucian Bute once more

Had Bute been beaten by Grachev the re-match clause with Froch would have been invalidated.

The Cobra's plans for two further re-matches in 2013 against the only two men to have beaten him have been complicated by the WBA nominating the winner of Mikkel Kessler's December clash with Brian Magee as the mandatory challenger to Andre Ward.

Froch is in negotiations for a midsummer spectacular against Kessler at Nottingham Forest's City Ground then a return bout with Ward, probably in America.

The WBA have acceded to Kessler's request that he be given a second shot at Ward if he beats Magee.

However, the Viking Warrior was much more soundly beaten by the self-styled Son Of God than was Froch, who will now petition the WBA to amend that decision in favour of sanctioning a fight between him and Ward as the real final eliminator.

Constantino update:

Readers intrigued by the item in a previous column about the one-handed boxer will be interested to know that he won his professional debut fight in New York.

Michael Constantino, who was born without a right hand but wears a glove on the end of that arm, knocked out Nathan Ortiz with a wicked left hook and thereby, at 33, realised his life-long dream.

Now he says: 'From here on I'm taking it one fight – and one hand – at a time.'

There will be no more boozing and bingeing between the boxing during Ricky Hatton’s comeback.

The Hitman makes that promise as he trains himself to the limit in readiness for his return to the ring three madcap years after being knocked cold by Manny Pacquiao.

Not only that but even if he loses to Vyacheslav Senchenko in Manchester on November 24 and retires again, he vows not to sink back into the debauchery which posed a greater threat to his life than any blows from even the mightiest of opponents.

Slim chance: Ricky Hatton insists he will not booze or binge between fights again

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'This comeback is about the way I want to be remembered,' says Hatton, 'but not only that. This is a permanent lifestyle change.

'I know that if I’m going to get all the way back to winning world titles I can’t blow up to 15 stones between fights and then train like crazy and crash diet to get the weight off. My body won’t take that any more.

'But I also know that the drink and everything else was killing me. The depression which followed not only that defeat by Pacquiao but all the bingeing took me to the brink of suicide. That won’t happen again. At 34 I’ve got my life under control.'

Hatton is doing that his way. Not by joining Alcoholics Anonymous, sacrificing every little pleasure and thereby driving his frustrated self to fall heavily off the wagon.

Contrary to reports that he never drinks now, he is monitoring his own behaviour.

He says: 'I've had about eight nights out in the last four months. Most of them have been for dinner with my girlfriend Jennifer.

'There’s been a couple of evenings with the lads but I've been able to enjoy those while having no more than a couple of beers. I've learned to exercise sensible restraint and that’s how it’s going to be from now on, whether I’m boxing or not.’

Hatton did take counselling when fighting the worst of his demons and says that he has psychologist 'on speed dial' in case he needs reinforcing in his new-found resolve.

The halo of health surrounding him speaks even more loudly than his words. On the May morning he woke up resolving to kick the excesses of drink, drugs and junk-food which were destroying him, Hatton weighed 14st 10lb.

Now, at 11st 3lb, he is down to within ten pounds of the welterweight limit at which he will fight Senchenko – with almost five weeks still to go before he steps back into the spotlight in front of 20,000 loyal fans at the sold-out MEN Arena.

Fat jibe: Hatton used to wear a fat suit to the ring (L) to mimic his nickname from his rivals, 'Ricky Fatton'

Taking off a couple of pounds a week is child’s play for someone who used to shed five stones during a seven-week training camp before his world title battles.

But just to make sure he does it right – and by way of another nod to a serious change in habits – the man who sometimes used to exist on gallons of lager and buckets of chips has employed a nutritionist.

He says: 'These days boxers have to get their diet and vitamins right and there'd be no point having this bloke and not doing what he tells me.'

As an archetypal one of the lads, can he be truly happy submitting to such a stern regime

'To tell you the truth, I’ve never felt better or happier in my life, physically or mentally,' he says. 'I’m fitter in body and mind than when I was winning my world titles.’

/10/22/article-2221383-1576F99A000005DC-340_634x443.jpg” width=”634″ height=”443″ alt=”Raring to go: Hatton is in training for his comeback fight against Vyacheslav Senchenko ” class=”blkBorder” />

Raring to go: Hatton is in training for his comeback fight against Vyacheslav Senchenko

'I feel sure that when I give this comeback a real honest go then even the Ricky Hatton haters will say fair enough.

'I don’t want to go out on my back as the chump who got knocked out by Pacquiao because he was making a wreck of his life.

'On November 24 I’m going to find out the truth of whether I've still got the fight in me. If it’s not there – and I’ll know it – I will walk away again. This time for good. But I’ll be doing so on my own terms and with pride. That’s why I’ve picked a tougher opponent than everyone in my team recommended.'

That rival is not well-known in Britain but Senchenko's surprising loss of his world welterweight title to Paulie Malignaggi in his last fight is the only defeat on his record.

Hatton beat Malignaggi immediately prior to his two defeats, against Floyd Mayweather and Pacquiao. A world title re-match with the native New Yorker has been pencilled in by Hatton for nest March, if all goes well next month.

An all-British block-buster against Amir Khan is also a possibility later next year and that fight would fill a football ground in Manchester, be it the home of his beloved City or the bigger house at Old Trafford.

Nor is Hatton ruling out return bouts with Mayweather and Pacquiao, complete with repeats of the trans-Atlantic migrations by tens of thousands of his army of fans from Manchester to Las Vegas.

But all those plans are on hold until the second coming tells him – and us – whether the Hitman still has the right stuff. Not that he is unduly worried by either the outcome of the fight with Senchenko or the critics questioning the wisdom of his comeback.

'Win, lose or draw in the ring, I’ve already won in my life,' he says.

For a man who not that long ago was close to slitting his own wrists, that is the most important victory of all.

Caffeine would not have passed the test in the ring

If Stevie G and the lads had been going out in Poland to box rather than play football for England, the levels of caffeine which the FA admit was pumped into their systems would almost certainly have resulted in failed drugs tests.

The disturbing revelation that caffeine is being dispensed to England’s players before matches came after their World Cup qualifier was postponed to the next day by rain and they had to be given sleeping pills to enable them to get a night's rest.

That admission throws into light an alarming difference between football's approach to doping compared with some other sports.

Robert Smith, general secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control, says: 'Caffeine is a stimulant and we treat it as such if it shows up in quantities bigger than would come naturally from drinking a couple of cups of coffee.

'We are now testing boxers more and more rigorously before and after fights and at random out of competition. If a high level of caffeine is detected we regard it as a positive drugs test and deal with it accordingly. We do this for the safety of that fighter, as well any opponent, because caffeine increases heart rates significantly.'

The use of Creatine and other supplements by footballers has also raised health concerns for young men at many leading clubs whose physiques have grown markedly more muscular and powerful in recent seasons.

Meanwhile, under Smith’s direction, British boxing is setting a worthy example. Several fighters have been suspended for using steroids and other substances. While some boxing commissions in the US are following suit, others are dragging their heels.

The IBF are shamefully allowing Lamont Peterson to carry on fighting even though he admitted having a pellet stuffed with synthetic steroids implanted in his hip before his highly controversial victory over Amir Khan.

Last Saturday, the New York authorities gave the go ahead for legendary Mexican veteran Erik Morales to fight on the card which brought boxing back to Brooklyn – despite failing steroids tests.

They did so on the dubious grounds that the amounts were small enough that they may have been ingested from contaminated meat.

Not that it did Morales much good. Danny Garcia knocked him out… further evidence that our footballers should be very wary of anything that is administered unto them.

Say it ain't so, Ho…

Alarmingly, Evander Holyfield has recanted on his promise to retire from the ring on his 50th birthday. He reached that landmark last Friday only to decide to carry on boxing after all, no doubt to try to alleviate the financial distress which has followed his squandering of a $350million fortune.

He says: 'I woke up on Friday morning and decided not to quit after all, It now remains my ambition to keep boxing until I become, again, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.'

Since all those titles are held by the Brothers Klitschko, who have stated they will not fight their hero Holyfield at his advanced age, that is a most improbable goal.

Still, he says: 'I know how to beat Wladimir and Vitali and all I am asking is for the chance to prove it.'Of his U-turn he says: 'A person has the right to change his mind, don’t he'

Yes a person does. Just as those who are worried about his health have the right to send this all-time great this message: Say it ain't so, Ho.

Brook will have to step up in class now

Not least for his own good, it is unwise to get as carried away just yet about Kell Brook as the 7,000 home-town Sheffield fans who turned out for Saturday night’s stoppage of Hector Saldivia… even though this victory is supposed to set up a challenge to Devon Alexander for the IBF welterweight title.

Very few final eliminators for world championships feature two boxers who have fought hardly any opponent of real note on their way up the rankings.

The records of both Brook and Saldivia are riddled with fairly easy pickings

Alexander, whose own Saturday night victory over Randall Bailey won him the IBF title, is not the most formidable of champions but he does represent a step up in class and technique.

Since, as champion, he is certain to insist on home advantage in America, a glance at Saldivia’s record is in order. The Argentine had fought outside South America only once before. On that occasion in Las Vegas he was knocked out in the first round by Said Quali, a thirty-something Moroccan journeyman who had arrived in the US via Belgium.

Exciting times: After beating Hector Saldivia, Kell Brook and his promoter Eddie Hearn will be planning for bigger fights

Brook took three rounds to achieve the same result and the manner of it – by a straight-forward left jab – raised more questions about Saldivia’s commitment than it provided answers about the English contender’s power.

Brook's physique did look remarkably more muscular, growth attributed not just to his new nutritionist but his raised level of dedication to training.

If he is to challenge Alexander in the spring, he will need to maintain his healthier lifestyle through the intervening months.

Brook may well be a world champion in the making. But just in case there is any wavering in his devotions to the hard old game – or the match with Alexander cannot be made – his promoter Eddie Hearn is wisely continuing to call out Amir Khan and Ricky Hatton for possible big pay-days in 2013.

Retired and broke, Holyfield still has hope… but it's help he really needs

|

UPDATED:

23:01 GMT, 15 October 2012

Hard times: Evander Holyfield

As if pulling a blanket over his head to hide from a world of troubles, Evander Holyfield will finally retire from boxing on his 50th birthday this Friday.

One of the ring’s most heroic warriors has been defeated not by one of his catalogue of formidable opponents but by the wounds of self-inflicted poverty.

A fighting man who battled his way out of the ghetto to a $350million fortune will wake up this poignant morning in a grim apartment in down-town Atlanta.

From The Real Deal to Meals On Wheels.

This is the deepest cut of all those sustained by so many fighting men who have squandered fortunes. Even Mike Tyson only blew $250m.

Worse, Holyfield seems more afflicted than most by the punishment inflicted by so many sledge-hammer blows to the head.

Yet even though his speech became increasingly slurred as he fought on to an age when the majority of Americans are applying for their bus pass, he had still been hoping for one last world title shot, one last big payday to keep the wolf from the door a little longer.

Holyfield is not just calling it a day but waiting for a phone call which will not come. His potentially suicidal campaign for a farewell fling against Wladimir or Vitali Klitschko has fallen on ears that are more kind than unreceptive.

Holyfield says: ‘I believe I can beat either of them but I don’t have time now to fight my way back up the rankings and become the No 1 contender. There’s no point badgering them any longer. If I don’t get the call on Friday, I quit.’

The phone will not ring.

50 and out: Holyfield is walking away from the hardest game

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Bernd Bonte, manager of the Klitschkos, says: ‘Neither of the brothers will fight Evander. Both of them would destroy him at his age and they respect him far too much to do that. He is one of their idols and that means more than however much money the fight might make.’

The esteem in which Holyfield is held by the Klitschkos – in common with the entire fraternity of boxing – is hall-marked by the horde of memorabilia which he must surrender to auction next month.As the only four-time winner of the world heavyweight title Holyfield surpasses The Greatest himself, Muhammad Ali.

That collection of WBC, WBA, IBF and Ring belts are to go under the hammer in Los Angeles, along with the wardrobe-full of gloves, shorts and robes worn in all the most significant fights in the career of one of the greatest boxers of all time.

Those treasures drip with the sweat of his epic trilogy with Riddick Bowe, the two controversial battles with Lennox Lewis and – along with his blood from that infamous biting of his ear – the sensational victories over Tyson.

Yet, although here is no telling how long his memory of the glory nights will remain sharp, the item from which he will part most reluctantly is the classic red Chevrolet manufactured in 1962, the year of his birth. It will feel as if his life has turned its full circle. Yet even if the fire sale raises its projected $5m, that will cover only half his $10m bankruptcy.

How could it have come to this Some of the answers are as old as the hardest game itself. As the money poured in so, Holyfield took to gambling much of it away in the casinos of Las Vegas and Atlantic City. As all the pretty women flocked around so, he fathered 11 children with five of them as well as marrying and expensively divorcing three times.

Gates are closed: Holyfield's former 235 acre Atlanta estate, which sold at an auction for $7.5million, and cost $1m a year to maintain. He is believed to have owed $14m on the house at the time of foreclosure

An aerial view of Evander Holyfield's house in Fayette County, Georgia

Locked out: Holyfield at his former residence at the height of his success but was forced to sell the property at an auction to cover some of his debts

As he took gratification from rising to fame through the old prejudices of America’s Deep South, so he flaunted his riches by buying Atlanta’s answer to Buckingham Palace.

The most frequently mentioned statistics of that estate are the 109 rooms and 17 bathrooms. When I visited him there he took most pride from having not one but two marble staircases sweeping through each end of the mansion. There were also houses in the grounds for his ex-wives and some of his children.

This was a monument to extravagance born of his pride at overcoming his humble beginnings but ultimately beyond his means to sustain.

In echoing contrast to that call which will never come the phone rang frequently there, to be answered by a servant saying ‘The Holyfield residence.’

Warrior: Holyfield will always be remembered as one of the all-time greats

His residence now is that small apartment in one of the less salubrious parts of his home city. The stately home was repossessed when he fell $14m behind on the mortgage repayments.

Now one of his daughters has won an order for immediate payment of $500,000 in maintenance arrears. Since he has no prospect of paying that or the $3,000 alimony due every month, he faces being held in contempt of court shortly.

What they cannot take from him is a phenomenal career. A Golden Gloves amateur title and Olympic bronze were followed by a reign as undisputed cruiserweight champion of the world.

After winning the heavyweight crown by defeating James Buster Douglas – who had shocked Tyson and the world in the greatest of all upsets – he went on to fight all the best of the big time. He alternated between dominating the division and coming back from set-backs – including suspension with a suspected heart defect – to keep reclaiming the title.

He would have been a five-time champion had he not been robbed of a decision by the giant Nikolai Valuev as recently as February 2010, at the age of 47. He has the satisfaction of bowing out as a winner, having defeated Danish veteran Brian Neilsen in what was to be his last fight.

Win or lose, the way Holyfield always went to war in the ring was thrilling and unforgettable.

Some may withhold sympathy, given the former scale of his wealth. Yet while his excesses wee a folly, the sadness is profound.

Tyson, who is finding ways to rebuild his life, is offering assistance and advice to the man whose lavish generosity has extended to forgiving Iron Mike for chewing off his ear.

Famously a born-again Christian, Holyfield says: ‘I still have hope.’

He also needs help. Hopefully, from all he people whose lives he has enriched with his courage, it will be forthcoming.

Don't be a Twit, Tyson…

Tyson Fury is a good guy at heart but he is in danger of embarrassing himself with his tirades against David Price, his British rival for future world heavyweight title glory.

Fury’s rantings at Price are starting to wander between the manic and banale and, frankly, do not merit being repeated in this column.

War of words: Tyson Fury launched a series of embarrassing tirades against David Price

Price, having ended Audley Harrison’s career on Saturday night with another of his massive KOs to retain his British and Commonwealth belts, needs only to remind Fury that Fury vacated those titles rather than fight him.

Some of Fury’s other tweets of late have been riddled with expletives. It is time for him to stop twittering and concentrate at what he does best… which also happens to be knocking people out.

Sooner or later, he will get the chance to have his say against Price where it matters. In the ring.

Nonito nearly the new Pacquiao

Expectations that Nonito Donaire will eventually succeed his Filipino countryman Manny Pacquiao as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world rose on Saturday.

New Manny: Nonito Donaire (L and below) defeated Toshiaki Nishioka in the ninth round of their IBF and WBO super bantamweight title and WBC diamond championship match in California

With Cuban defector Guillermo Rigondeaux – a two-time Olympic gold medallst – already holding another of the super-bantamweiight belts – the road to a world title will not be easy for the forthcoming winner of Munoe and Scott Quigg.

Enough is enough, Audley

Audley Harrison, in a statement which gives full credit to David Price for Saturday’s knock out, says he is still thinking about whether to retire.

For your own sake – at coming up 41 and coming out of hospital – don’t think about it for too long, Audley.

Enough is enough: Audley Harrison reacts after his first round defeat by David Price

The wife of a multi-millionaire American footballer is leading a campaign to let athletes at Olympic Games share the marketing billions of dollars made by the International Olympic Committee.

Sanya Richards-Ross, a favourite for the 400metres gold medal and wife of NFL star Aaron Ross, wants athletes to be allowed to do their own advertising deals for their kit at Games.

A Twitter campaign with the hash tag We Demand Change was trending with American athletes Tyson Gay and Bernard Lagat backing her, and athletes from other countries raising the issue.

Protest: Sprinter Sanya Richards-Ross has called for change in the IOC

‘I believe the Olympic ideal and the Olympic reality are now different,’

Richards-Ross told a conference in the Olympic Park. ‘Six billion dollars are being traded here. I have been very fortunate to do well around the Olympics but so many of my peers struggle.’ She added that many athletes have second and third jobs.

Claim: Sanya Richards-Ross

The IOC insist that national Olympic associations impose contracts on all competitors forbidding them from even mentioning their own sponsors on social messaging in the month around the Games. In the US, it is called Rule 40.

The campaigners want restriction on mentions of sponsors lifted and product placement on clothing.

Mark Adams, the IOC director of communications, replied: ‘Those athletes lucky enough to have a high-profile sponsor can work with them throughout the four years. They have only one month where they can’t do that.

‘We are trying to protect the money that comes into the Olympic movement and 94 per cent of it is re-distributed to sport.’

He added: ‘I think the huge number of the 10,500 athletes who are here would understand why we’re doing this.’

The campaigners’ next move will be to back the candidacy of a sympathetic athlete standing for election to the IOC Athletes Commission during the Games.

But change is unlikely even in time for the 2016 Games, with the IOC jealously guarding its $5billion income over the past four years — and the figure set to grow.

Sprint king Usain Bolt is preparing to smash the world record once again by running 9.4 seconds – but says that is the limit.

His coach Glen Mills has always predicted Bolt will be at his very best by the time of his 26th birthday, which falls less than two weeks after the end of the Olympics on August 21.

Having set world records of 9.58s for the 100m and 19.19s for the 200m in winning golds at the 2009 World Championship in Berlin, Bolt still says there is room for improvement.

You can't see me: Bolt hides behind his hand

He told The Sun: 'You can’t be sure when or where you can run a time like 9.4.

'But the major competitions are when I take it really seriously and shine through — that’s business time.'

Fears have been raised over Bolt's fitness in the lead up to The Games and the threat posed by training partner Yohan Blake.

But the Jamacian remains confident of success, although he has set a limit on how fast he – or anyone can run – saying 9.4s is the fastest.

Lightening Bolt: Usain Bolt with his famous pose

He added: 'It is impossible to run 9.2.

'The body isn’t made to go that fast no matter how hard you train, how good a shape you’re in or how good your technique.'

And Bolt claims his spirit and hunger for sprinting has remained the same since his school days and he claims that if he beats someone once, he'll never lose to them again.

He added: 'Once I’ve beaten you, you won’t beat me again.'

Rival: Yohan Blake won the World Championship 100m

He applied it to races against his Jamaican rival Asafa Powell, and the American Tyson Gay.

Yes, he lost over 100m and 200m to Blake at the Jamaican trials but the big championships are what matters and where Bolt aims to produce his very best. Blake won gold in the 100m at the last world championships in Korea but Bolt was disqualified for a false start.

The world is waiting to see what happens when the two actually do go head-to-head in the big one.

Powell confident of proving his fitness despite pulling out of Crystal Palace

|

UPDATED:

09:57 GMT, 13 July 2012

Former world record holder Asafa Powell insists he will be fit for the Olympics despite withdrawing from the Aviva London Grand Prix for the second year running.

Powell was due to take on American Tyson Gay over 100 metres at Crystal Palace this evening, but has pulled out with a groin strain.

The 29-year-old Jamaican said: 'I've been carrying some soreness in my groin since the Olympic trials and have been unable to train at 100 per cent.

Ready for action: Former world record holder Asafa Powell is confident he will be fit for London 2012 despite being forced out of the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace

'I need to ensure I'm ready for the Games and cannot take any risks. I will be ready in August.'

However, worryingly for Powell fans, the Olympic relay gold medallist expressed similar sentiments 12 months ago when he also missed the race with a groin injury which subsequently kept him out of the World Championships.

He said at the time: 'I am focusing on Daegu and as much as I'd like to run tonight, I just can't take the risk with the major championships three weeks away.'

Powell is the fourth fastest man in the world this year behind compatriots Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt and American Justin Gatlin.

He has run under 10 seconds more than 80 times in his career, but has never won an individual title at a major international championship, finishing fifth in the Olympic 100m final in both Athens and Beijing

It was not a great weekend for Britons who will be long jumping at the Olympic Games.

Jessica Ennis, who needs to leap at least 6.40 metres to be competitive in the heptathlon, had another poor outing at Loughborough, managing only 6.21m.

Leap of faith: Jessica Ennis needs to improve her long jump

Admittedly it was into a headwind but the rest of her series was far worse.

Meanwhile in Madrid, Greg Rutherford, joint leader this year in the event, abandoned the competition after three attempts because of cramp.

His best at that point was only 7.81m with a lot of help from the wind, more than half a metre below his season's best.

'Not a great night,' he tweeted, admitting that his first jump was not even close to taking off from the board.

Sanchez agony

Olympic road race champion Samuel Sanchez's hopes of defending his title at London 2012 appear over after he broke his right hand and injured his left shoulder in a crash during the Tour de France on Sunday.

Ruled out: Samuel Sanchez injured his shoulder

The Spaniard, 34, hurt during the eighth stage from Belfort to Porrentruy in Switzerland, immediately quit the Tour.

Gay hails Blake

Tyson Gay knows the 100m is more than just about beating 'the monster, the big dog' Usain Bolt.

'(Yohan) Blake is the favourite on time,' said the American after winning his first post-US Olympic trials race in Paris.

Sprint stars Gay and Powell set for duel at Crystal Palace in Olympic warm-up

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UPDATED:

09:26 GMT, 3 July 2012

Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell will go head to head over 100 metres at the Aviva London Grand Prix on July 13.

The second and third fastest men of all time will meet at Crystal Palace 23 days before a potential rematch in the Olympic final.

Gay, who has battled back from terrible injury problems, won the United States trials in 9.86 seconds last week, while Powell, the former world record holder, finished third behind Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt in the Jamaican trials.

Fighting fit: Tyson Gay (right) is searching for form ahead of the Games

They will both be looking to send out a warning to Blake and Bolt, who have run 9.75secs and 9.76s respectively this year, ahead of the Olympics.

Gay said: 'I haven't raced much this year and I'm feeling better each time out there on the track.

'My body is getting closer to where I want it to be. I've shown over the years that through all of the injuries, I'm a fighter, and I hope to be fighting for that Olympic gold in London later this summer.'

See you in London: Asafa Powell (left) in action at the Jamaican Olympic trials

Powell, 29, added: 'This is a big year for me. I'm not getting any younger but there's a lot more to come from me. I've learned a lot from past major championships. I don't take anything for granted and I'm working as hard as ever. I know that I'm capable of running 9.8, 9.7, 9.6, so all that I'm focusing on is myself.

'I'm looking forward to taking on Tyson. It's good to have him back and it's going to make for a very competitive Olympic Games.

'Hopefully the world will be able to see the four fastest men ever going head-to-head in the 100m final in August in London, what a race that would be.'

In order to re-focus, he only had to remind himself that he would have given up the struggle to earn a world heavyweight title shot against one of the Klitschko brothers next year had he not been able to shed the surplus flab from his massive, 6ft 9in frame.

‘I looked in the mirror one day and was disgusted by what I saw,’ says Fury.

‘I didn’t resemble anything like the athlete I was supposed to be. It no longer mattered to me that I could win fights even when so out of condition.

‘I couldn’t stand looking fat as a pig whenever I stripped down to train or spar. I gave it one last chance to prove to myself that I could become dedicated to boxing and present myself as an athlete in the ring. If I’d failed to do so I was going to quit out of embarrassment.’

In a few short months Fury has banished the layers of fat around his belly and waist and, remarkably, reduced his body fat to less than 10 per cent.That has required a supreme effort of will, to abide by the strict diet imposed by his new trainer.

Peter Fury. his uncle and former boxer, has isolated his nephew at his wooden house buried deep in a forest on the Holland-Belgium border.

Weight off his shoulders: Fury has shed the pounds

‘My problem was not even junk food,’ says Tyson. ‘I love sweets and even when driving I couldn’t resist pulling into a petrol station, loading up with carrier bags full of chocolates and candies and eating most of it at one go.

‘It was madness. I couldn’t stop even though I felt sluggish and terrible. It was more compulsive because my baby son had been really sick in hospital. Thank God, his recovery helped me turn the corner. I feel so much better now, Stronger even tough I’m lighter and punching with greater power.’

Mick Hennessy, Fury’s promoter, is as delighted as he is amazed by the change in life-style of his 24-year-old giant prodigy.

He says: ‘I’ve always believed Tyson will become a world champion but I thought it would have to be as one of those tubby heavyweights relying on his knock-out power.

'Now he looks like the Klitschkos, his movement is so much improved and I’m even more confident he can beat Wladimir or Vitali in the fight we are negotiating for 2013.’

Fury has been criticised for vacating the British and Commonwealth titles rather than face the mandatory challenge from Liverpool’s David Price, now the new champion.

But he denies that worries about his fitness prompted that decision, saying: ‘I just felt Price wasn’t ready for me since has faced nothing like the quality of opposition I have been in against. A five-fight blitz starting with Maddalone gives me a better chance of building up to challenge one of the Klitschkos.’

Fury found deeper religion as he overcame the depression triggered by his son’s illness and he prays daily.

Looking ahead: Fury wants to fight one of the Klitschko brothers in 2013

He has also integrated even more fully into the family life which is fundamental to the travelling community into which he was born.

At his uncle’s remote chalet, with many relatives around him, he has been living the open-air country life in which he feels most comfortable. His wife Paris and their two children spend their time in those woods sleeping in the caravan which Fury towed over from their home in Lancaster.

He returned from that idyll on Friday in readiness for Saturday’s engagement with Maddalone, the New York slugger, and even that fight is taking place in a rural setting in which he will feel at ease.

The Hand Arena, in the Somerset resort of Clevedon, is an equestrian centre which is being transformed into a 2,500 seat boxing venue for the evening. Fury may even make his entrance on horse-back or in a horse-drawn caravan.

This should be a routine win for Fury, given his own physical improvement and the limitations of his opponent.

Fury-Maddalone is live on Channel 5 from 10 pm Saturday.

Brook out to punish rival Jones

Sheffield's Kell Brook faces a somewhat higher test of his future world championship credentials when he meets American Carson Jones in his home town’s Motorpoint Arena this Saturday night.

The pair have been trading insults in the build up to this eliminator for the IBF welterweight title, with Jones threatening to de-rail Brook and the Englishman saying: 'I don’t like him and I’m going to punish him.'

Brook should win but British fans will be looking more fluency and variety in his boxing.

Brook-Jones is live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 8 pm Saturday.

Amir out to bring his belt back

Incentive: Amir Khan can reclaim his title

Amir Khan will be reunited with the WBA belt stolen from him by Lamont Peterson if he beats another American, Danny Garcia, in Las Vegas on July 14.

The WBA have promised Golden Boy Promotions chief executive Richard Schaefer that they will reinstate Khan as their world light-welterweight champion following Peterson’s positive drugs test.

With Garcia coming into the fight at the Mandalay Bay as the defending WBC champion, Khan has the incentive of becoming a unified champion once again.

Make that undisputed if the IBF follow the WBA’s example in time.

That they should but their delay in so doing until all medical submissions have been examined suggests they will stay loyal to the Peterson camp for as long as possible.

Disgracefully so, since both Peterson’s A and B tests confirmed testosterone abuse and his team have admitted the implanting of a pellet full of drugs in his hip prior to the fight against Khan, which was also mired in refereeing and judging controversies.

Khan-Garcia will be live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 2 am Sunday July 15.

Chisora-Charles bust-up… who cares

Dereck Chisora is reported to have been attacked by his own trainer, Don Charles, during a bust-up in training for his post-Munich-brawl fight with fellow London heavyweight David Haye at West Ham football ground on July 14.

Subsequently the incident has been variously denied, played down or dismissed as a publicity stunt.

Did it happen Do we care

Haye-Chisora will be live on BoxNation (Sky Ch 456 or Virgin Ch 546) on Saturday July 14

Working it out: Chisora and his trainer Don Charles were said to have clashed